His advice: Keep workouts varied and avoid injuries

Brian Shaw, the world's strongest man, demonstrates how to use exercise bands to warm up before a workout Monday, in the Sterling Public Library conference room.
(David Martinez/Journal-Advocate)

STERLING --If the Sterling Fire Department starts looking bulkier over the next few weeks, it's a good bet it's because they've been getting pointers from the strongest man in the world.

No, seriously.

Fort Lupton native Brian Shaw, the 30-year-old who holds the 2011 title for World's Strongest Man, stopped by the Sterling Public Library conference room Monday for a couple hours to talk about his experience as a strongman and offer advice on how to keep in shape.

It was a low-key affair, with some of the nearly 20 firefighters leaving half an hour in to respond to a 911 call, and others strolling in throughout the talk. A stray dog came through an open door at one point to sniff around.

But many of the firefighters seemed keenly interested in his advice, sticking around after his talk to ask questions and get autographs.

"It was absolutely helpful," said Brian Miller, a fire figher and EMT. "Hearing (tips) from the strongest guy in the world makes it more legitimate."

Miller asked the majority of the questions that afternoon - sometimes stopping himself from asking follow-ups - but he said he's trying to become competitive himself.

Shaw, who said he was rebuilding from a separated bicep, was glad to answer several questions. He offered his outlook, though sometimes unconventional, on a number of subjects.

Cardio Health

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Typically, people hop on a treadmill and run for a few minutes to get their cardio.

"I'm personally not a fan of that," Shaw sad. "That seems kind of boring to me."

He said the key is to stay off machines and instead rely on circuit or interval training.

If someone has to use a machine, bumping up the notches on an elliptical machine and doing 30-second bursts of all-out sprints, with breaks in between, make for a strong workout.

He also suggested working with sandbags, which are "very versatile" and provide a lot of dead weight.

"If you ever have to pick somebody up, that's perfect," he said. "They're not gonna help you lift them."

Strength training

For Shaw, building up strength isn't something that takes a couple weeks, or even a couple months. It's a lengthy process that can't be rushed.

"You can't have an ego about how much weight you lift," he said. "You show off, you try to prove something. It's a really easy way to get hurt, and it's an easy way to use the wrong form."

It's better to train several days a week, but to take breaks in between. In general, Shaw's workouts include warm-ups with lower weights, followed by big-body, multi-joint movement exercises (such as dead lifts) and finishing with single joint movements (such as bench presses).

He rarely, if ever, "maxes out," because of the problems it could cause. Instead, he suggested doing no more than three to four repetitions at 90 percent of one's energy. Even better, he suggested doing lifts with 50 to 60 percent energy and doing as many as possible before needing to put the weight down, taking a break, then doing it again.

He said people should work out regardless of whether they feel like they're having an off day, but that they should vary workouts to keep from getting bored and to keep the body from "stalling out" - or slowing its rate of improvement.

If there's any one exercise Shaw recommended, though, it would most definitely be squats. He mentioned them several times through his talk as a good example of total body, multi-joint movement.

Having a good training partner helps, too.

Preventative measures

The most common injuries Shaw has seen (though not necessarily experienced), occur at the shoulder joint, since it moves so many ways and is used for so many exercises.

But to warm up those and other joints, Shaw suggested lightly jogging on a treadmill for a few minutes before exercising, working up to the weight and especially using bands. He said he uses elastic bands to stretch out his muscles and joints to keep the blood flowing.

Shaw admitted that he sees a chiropractor once a week and has his own designated stretcher, but he said that using a foam roller and taking ice baths for recovery do fine.

Stretching is especially important at the end of the workout.

Nutrition

Many of the firefighters wanted to know what they should be eating or drinking to supplement their workouts.

As a professional strongman, Shaw has different eating habits than a normal person.

He's built his meals - all seven or eight that he consumes in a day - around protein. The guy eats about four pounds of cooked meat, plus rice, every day.

"Obviously it's my job. I don't have a choice," he said. "It's the hardest thing for me, because it just sucks."

But smaller, more evenly spaced meals generally were better for him, as he could get nutrition throughout the day. And while most of his meals center around protein, he does get energy boosts from a mix of fats and carbohydrates as well. He's gone from complex carbs to lighter carbs like potatoes, rice and regular pasta so he can access energy faster.

He said he used to eat a lot of "crap food" for the easy calories, but likened the practice to the type of gas someone puts in their car.

"Look at your body as a machine," Shaw said. "If you have a high performance sports car and you put crap food in it, it's gonna run like (expletive)."

To help, he drinks a lot of shakes to get his calories. But what really helps, he said, is grass-fed beef. He also eats fish and chicken, but grass-fed beef is both flavorful and nutritious.

"It's eye-opening," the first time he tried it, he said. "it's closer to salmon than to regular beef. The way you process it, it's just amazing."

He then waits 90 minutes after he eats to work out, and drinks a pre-workout shake about 20 minutes beforehand.